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To: Oral Roberts who wrote (6394)	3/25/2003 4:44:09 PM
From: Original Mad Dog	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 7689

Here is a thoughtful piece written by the foreign minister of Spain, Ana Palacio: Allies, Not 'Counterweights' By ANA PALACIO MADRID -- The differences within the European Union over Iraq have been genuine and profound. French and German objectives shifted from disarmament to containment when it became clear that the disarmament of the Saddam Hussein regime, agreed upon unanimously in Resolution 1441, made the use of force essential. Surprisingly, there continue to be governments that contend that the use of force arises not from this U.N. remit but from some nebulous "imperialist" designs on the part of the U.S. It is perhaps worth recalling that the architect of the EU, Jean Monnet, wrote in his memoirs that the U.S. "is still driven by a dynamic force originating in the very nature of each individual. America is up and running, but is neither reactionary nor imperialistic. It does not want war but will make war if necessary. Its resolve on this point is very firm, but that resolve is not blind." I quote this because different perceptions of how to deal with the U.S. seem to be at the heart of our differences here in Europe. This disagreement is affecting our very conception of international politics. At the root of some countries' positions -- particularly in France and Germany -- appears to be the desire to play the role of "counterweight" to the U.S. on the world stage. This desire to set up a rival pole and offer the world an alternative to U.S. power sometimes takes priority over any other link with the U.S. and even leads to confrontation on the international stage. More importantly, it can overshadow the fact that we share fundamental values centered on freedom and expressed through our attachment to democracy and respect for human rights, the secular state and the rule of law. The situation is not all Europe's making, for this attachment to the idea of a "counterweight," this emphasis on trans-Atlantic differences, also finds adherents on the other side of the Atlantic. It animates not just a sector of U.S. public opinion but also some elements within the Bush administration. They are the heirs of isolationism, reconverted into unilateralism following Sept. 11. These two sides reinforce each other. The outbursts of representatives of both tendencies, in Europe and in the U.S., have served only to confuse the public and render the objective of multilateralism even more difficult. Here in Europe, it has been the states traditionally at the "core" of European construction that have chosen to emphasize the role of balancer on the geostrategic stage, while the Continent's "flanks" (Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Denmark, the Netherlands, Italy and the new Central and Eastern European partners along with Romania and Bulgaria, candidates for membership) have defended solidarity with the U.S. Our argument has been that international stability must be dealt with above and beyond hypothetical exercises in world-wide equilibrium. This group of countries thus believes that the European Union must adapt to the new international framework and give itself the resources necessary to project forcefully an identity of its own. This identity cannot, however, be built on an opposition to the U.S. but must be based on joint labor within the international community. It must be focused on the defense and promotion of our shared values and principles. In short, rather than emphasizing confrontation and the building of counterweights, our transatlantic partnership must be properly cemented. The disparity of opinions within the European Union, the Atlantic Alliance and the United Nations Security Council has damaged these organizations' credibility and limited their room for maneuver. However, there are no "points of no return" in politics, and our mission at this time is to lay the foundations of an international community able to act decisively and consistently through the multilateral institutions it has created -- institutions that continue to be essential even in the present, radically changed strategic environment. The EU has an extremely important role to play on the international scene, and Spain's support for a common foreign and security policy has been and remains unswerving. However, such a European foreign policy cannot be focused on the maintenance of a balance of world power, but rather on the values and objectives we share with the United States, summarized in the notion of freedom. As our Cervantes had Don Quixote say, liberty is "one of the most precious gifts heaven has bestowed upon Man. No treasures the earth contains or the sea conceals can be compared to it. For liberty one can rightfully risk one's life." Ms. Palacio is foreign minister of Spain. URL for this article: online.wsj.com